Gouda is a cheese of Dutch origins and is a washed curd cheese.It has a smooth texture and a tangy taste. It looks very distinctiveWhen covered in red wax and this cheese. If you can find a goudamould anywhere to make the traditional shape it's better.

add one teaspoon of rennet in cool water and gently stirinto milk for 1 minute and top stir for 3 minutes.Cover and leave the milk to set for one hour.Using a curd knife and ladle (big flat slotted spoon) cut theCurds into half inch cubes and treat the curd very gently.

2 hours 15 mins

Raise the temperature to 100F during the next 30 mins nofaster that 2 degrees every 5 mins stir the curd continuouslybeing very gentle. Do not break the curds.

Continue to stir the curd for the next 30 mins keeping the temp at 100FAt ten minute intervals remove 8 cups of whey from the pot and replace it with 8 cups of water at 100F.

This should be done three times. Diluting the whey gives the cheeseitï¿½s smooth texture.

Pour off the whey and allow the curd to matt into a lump in the pot.

5 hours 55 mins.

Line a 2lb cheese mould with a cheesecloth and add the curd breaking as little as possible.Place the follower and press at 20lbs for 20 mins.Invert the mould and press at 30lbs for 20 mins.Invert the mould and press at and press at 40lbs for 3 hours.Remove from the press.

8 hours 55 mins.

Make a 20% brine solution by mixing 1.25 lbs of coarse salt in half a gallon of cold water thatï¿½s about 3 cups of salt.Float the cheese in this brine bath for three hoursmaking sure the container is non corrosive.

DRYING

Remove the cheese from the brine and pat dry with papertowels or clean cheese cloth.

Turn onto a cheese board or mat and air dry for three weeksat 50F. Turn the cheese daily and remove any mold during thistime with a vinegar rag.

WAXING

After drying the cheese may be waxed but is not essential.Gouda may be aged for several months before being eatenand should be stored at 50F with 85 RH and turned severaltime per week.Any mold groweth can be removed with a vinegar rag.

Variations Caraway Gouda. Jalepeno Pepper Gouda.

.This is a Gouda made from 2 gals whole milk and one pint double cream.

Just out of the press @ 40lbs for 3 hours and brine bath for 3 hours.

Weight of the cheese is 3lbs 5.5ozs.

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Last edited by Rik vonTrense on Sat May 20, 2006 5:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

When it comes to waxing, and I'm a very long way off that, there must be a knack to it. For future reference, what's the best way to do it to cover all the cheese and not yourself and the surrounding area?

Well my Gouda is only a week old and it has been air drying in my fridge for a couple of days now and the fan driven air seems to agree with it.

It has barreled slightly in it's shape and is very firm and dry to the touch and looks almost ready to eat. There is some Gouda slices in the other fridge that the klids take for their packed lunches and the colour and smell are almost the same.

It does have a very firm smooth outside though and it feels like this goes right through the cheese.

I have half a bottle of one of my ten year old country wines open as Tains Mother was here last weekend and dcided to try some after finishing her bottle of Chardonnay, she got through half a bottle before she had to be put to bed.

I think I will start to wash the rind daily in this and see how it goes.

Rik vonTrense wrote:Well my Gouda is only a week old and it has been air drying in my fridge for a couple of days now and the fan driven air seems to agree with it.

It has barreled slightly in it's shape and is very firm and dry to the touch and looks almost ready to eat. There is some Gouda slices in the other fridge that the klids take for their packed lunches and the colour and smell are almost the same.

It does have a very firm smooth outside though and it feels like this goes right through the cheese.

I think I will start to wash the rind daily in this and see how it goes.

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Good day Rik! I must say that this cheese making forum is like a soap opera,I must tune in to see what happens next! lol Could you post another picture to see how your Gouda is coming along? I was also wondering if you posted a diagram to make a Dutch style cheese press a couple of weeks ago?I cant seem to find it again,then again I may have saw the diagram elsewhere?I was wondering where I would find the mat with a drain spout?Best wishes!

Hello Oddley! Thank you for that link.Funny enough I bought the same Dutch style cheese press posted in that link last week from an American fella on ebay.I cant wait for it to arrive!

Paul,your memory serves you right!We don't have Tescos in Canada.I wonder if Safeway might carry that type of mat?I will have to go check on that tomorrow.

Rik,does the mat have a company name stamped on the bottom?Maybe I could buy some straight from the company that makes them? The fella I bought the cheese press off of would not tell me who makes the mat or what they were made for or where to buy them.He said he doesnt want to take the chance of having competition selling cheese presses on Ebay! Now I feel like making some to sell on Ebay! lol

If you have the same size dutch cheese press as I have, you will probably find the draining mat (which is a chopping board with a pouring lip at one end) is too wide to fit it anyway, so measure before you buy. I improvised with a sheet of craft plastic which I scored and bent into shape. It worked fine. You will also need to secure the press so it wont tip over when the weights are put on the arm, I tied it to a hook in the wall. It's a good little press though once you get it up and running.